Quality paradigm ****ft - BEWARE!

I have been posting in these newsgroups to share my observations on a ****ft
in quality paradigm. It has been triggered by a purchase of a generator at
Pep Boys for my son's business. The unit failed after four hours of
welding
and neither the store nor the manufacturer have responded to our request
for
a fix.

In one posting or other I mentioned the pioneers in quality from Taylor to
Deming and the huge breakthrough by Japan in taking Deming's teachings to
heart and producing zero defect manufacturing. Now the Chinese have taken
manufacturing ten steps further, and yes, using Deming's principles of
process control to produce minimum defective parts.

So here's the kicker. Pep-Boys and the like make a deal with a Chinese
factory to sell their reverse engineered quality Briggs/Stratton and Honda
likes - true pioneers in innovation, quality production and distribution.
I
can see it in my mind's eye in a hotel room at the Westec show in Los
Angeles. Chinese: "You buy containerload my generators. We put telephone
service people to handle that one of a thousand defective unit based on
our
Deming quality procedure. Should not be more than one, two calls per day.
We
handle."
To which the US distributor gladly accepts knowing full well that his
customers like Pep Boys will gladly go along with the deal. After all,
sell
something for half the price that known name brands sell for at Sears or
Mac? What a deal!

This is totally believable. Chinese manufacturers have learned from the
Japanese experience. They know how to make one thousand units for one
failure. They know they can handle that one failure if given the right
administration sup****t in the US. But it just isn't happening!

Apparently the fact that now there is more demand because of the low
prices
is pu****ng the Chinese into short-cuts and ignoring the principles of
process control. They let the tool dull until the chip is now dragging and
overheating the shaft being cut and you have a defective part. Multiply
this
by the thousands of components going into a generator. Suddenly you have
customers demanding replacement or repair of stuff under warranty and the
PepBoy buyer is out on the street looking for a new job and knowing that
the
homeless role may be his to play. But in HQ, the mahogany row suits,
simply
ignore the problem and let it go on, and on and on, regardless of how many
notes and clerical personnel pull at their coats begging for attention to
solve the problem.

As consumers my recommendation is to ask the retailer, be they Wal-Mart,
Pep-Boys, Harbor Freight, Home Depot or whoever.... "Where is your local
service center for this machine I am buying?"

Over the last few days I have offered to buy at least ten generators from
vendors up and down the state of California and have asked this question.
None have been able to answer.

What have you experienced in this paradigm ****ft?

Wayne in Chula Vista